The Reaper cover art

The Reaper

  • Songwriter:
    • Dan Wentworth
  • Albums:

    A song about addiction, but not about heroin, as the needle and a sewing lady might suggest. While that would be punny, it is really about being addicted to creating things, and how that can sometimes lead to creating messes when we are not mindful of what and how we create. This is a concept I am fairly familiar with as it applies directly to me.


Lyrics

You sew, you sew, you sew, you sew
The needle is all you know
But tell me isn't it so that you never know 
Just what to sew

The threat you thread is in your head
The needle it must be fed
But when the needle is fed it takes more
Thread out of your head

This tapestry you weave is victory
Both tragedy indeed and novelty
You weave and then you reap
You see there is no mystery

You sew, and you sew, and you sew
The needle is all you know
But tell me isn't it so that you never know 
Just what to sew

Recording Notes

This one is straightforward. Mostly just finger style acoustic guitar with vocals. I did toss in some harmonies that I thought were kind of nice.

The guitar on this is a bit of a challenge. If I don't practice it, it can take me a day or two to remember it and be able to perform it without mistakes. I like that I got ambitious here, as I tend to hold back on guitar difficulty when I am in songwriting mode.

I think at the time I wrote this I was heavily influenced by Francisco Tarrega and Fernando Sor. I couldn't play their songs, so I wrote my own, influenced by them, as a way to make it so I could get close.

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Date added to this archive: February 2026